Animal-trap.



No. 760,738; I PATBNTED MAY24,1904.

A. E. HUGULEY.

ANIMAL TRAP;

APPLICATION IILED SEPT. 23, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

NE na ms PETERS co. Pnmuumo. WASHi-NGTON a c No. 760,738 I i UNITE STATS Patented May 24, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

I ANI AL-T AP- SPECIFICATION forming part, of Letters Patent No.760,738, datedMay 24, 1904. Application-filed September 23,1903."eria1No. 174,294. (NomodeL) p To all whom it may concern Be it knownthat I, ADAMEneAR HUGUL'E a citizen of the United States, and a residentof Henry, county of Osage Nation, Territory of Oklahoma, have invented'certain'new and useful Improvements in Animal-Traps, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had therein to drawings;in which i Figure 1 is a perspective view of the trap,- showing thewater-"tank located below the floor; Fig. 2, a longitudinal sectionalview thereof; 'Fig. 3, atransverse vertical sectional view; Fig. 4:, adetail viewof the treadle-, 5 sp'ectiveview showing "the water-tankarlocking mechanism, and Fig.f5 a detail per;

ranged above'the floor.

Thisinvention relates to that class of traps which consist of a runwayand a 'cage'or tankconnected therewith'and in which the animalis'finallycaught.

3o yide means by which the closure devices may It has for its objectto'provide a tubular runway, which is normally'openthroughout its length,and to mount therein automatic closure devices which will beo'p'erated'by the animal to out off its exit. This tubular runway is connected by alateral tubular runway with the cage or tank into which the animalisled.

A. further object of the inventionis to pro:

be locked in their open position in order that a the animals may'passentirely through the runway without being caught.

Referring to the various parts by letters, A designates the maintubularrunway, which is normally open at its ends and communicates,through one of its side walls midway its ends,

withthe transverse runway B. This trans- Verse,v runway is closed at itsouter end and communicates, through itsbottom, with the -.water tank orcage 0. The ends of the main runway are adapted to be closed by hingeddoors a, said doorsbeing pivotedalong'their lower edges and swinginginwardand downward. Just inside of each swinging door a is a horizontaltreadleb, which is mounted about midway its ends. on a pivot c; Eachdoor a in its normal position. rests on the outer end the accompanyingonthe double'tre'a'dle.

of the adjacent treadle b and depresses it,

thereby raising the inner end thereof. Mount- '.7) is arranged adoubletreadle, formed of two IIIGIIjbQIS, e p, each of said members.being mounted on a transverse pivot f and. the in- 65 Y ner vendsthereof being connected together by a transverse pivot g. Thisdouble'treadlejoccupies the middle portion of the main runway A. Thismiddle portion'is separated from the end portions of the runway. bydoors'd,

which are-pivoted along their horizontal edges and normallyswinginwardand down-1 ward'and rest on the outer portions of the members e e of thedouble treadle, In the outer ends of this doubletreadle are mountedantifriction-rollers' at, which act in the same manner as the similarrollers in the outer ends off the treadles 6. Below the double treadleis 'arranged'a spring h, which normally maintainsthe middle portion ofthe double treadle elevated and the end portions depressed, so that thedoorsd will normallyopen and rest The tran'sverse ;runway b communicateswith the middle compartment of the main runway, through-one of thesidewalls thereof, at'a point adjacent to the inner ends of the members6 e of the double treadle. The side walls of this transverse runwayneartheir outer ends are slotted or perforated'in any" manner to admit lightand air, and the bottom ofthis runway, at the end thereof, is in opencommunication with the cage or tank C. This opening is normally closedby a tilting platform t, which is mounted near one of its" ends on ahorizontal pivot j, weight k being pro- Vided to normally maintain theplatform in a horizontal position. The end of said platj'acent edge ofthe tank, this edge preferably being the one nearest to the main runway.

The operation is as follows: An animal entering either end of the mainrunway will as soon as it passes beyond the pivot 0' depress the innerend of the treadle Z), and thereby swing the door a up to its closedposition and maintain it closed as long as the animal remains on theinner portion ot' the treadle. This prevents the return of the animal;but as the runway is entirely open to its other end the animal will moveinward beyond the door (Z and on the double treadle. As soon as it haspassed beyond the pivot f the center portions of said double treadlewill be depressed and the end portions raised, thereby closing bothdoors d and shutting the animal within the middle compartment. The onlyexit now for the animal is into the transverse runway B, and as this islighted at its outer end the animal will naturally pass therein and ontothe tipping platform. It is obvious that as soon as it passes beyond thepivot j the platform will tip, depositing the trapped animal into thetank or cage G and then automatically returning to its normal horizontalposition. As soon as the animal passes into the transverse runway B thespring in will automatically raise the inner ends of the members of thedouble treadle and permit the doors (Z to drop down to their normal openposition.

It will be noted that the antifriction-rollers operate on the doors aand 01, closing them with very little friction and practically no noise.It will also be noted that when these doors are intheir closed positionthey incline slightly inward, so that they quickly fall back inwardtotheir open position when the weightof the animal is removed from thetreadles.

Below the 'inner ends of the treadles are mounted locking-cams 0, thesecams being se-- cured to horizontal shaftsj), 'whose projecting ends areformed into cranks; The purpose of these locking-cams 0 is to permit thetreadles to be locked to prevent the doors a'and d being closed astheanimals pass into the main runway. The object of this is to permit theanimals to use the runway'for a time without being caught, therebyallaying suspicion. To set the trap, the cams are turned to the positionshown in Figs. 2 and 4, and 'to lock the trap unset the cams are turnedup in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig.4.

The tank C is provided with an upward-extending flange a on its top,within which fits the transverse runway B, said tank within the flangebeing open to permit the tilting platform to pass down into it. -Thetransverse runway may be hinged at its innerend to the main runway, asshown at m in Fig 1 and 3. This permits the said transverse runway to beswung upward, so that the tank may be removed and emptied and replacedwithout moving the main runway. It is obvious, however, that the tworunways may be rigidly connected together.

\Vhen the trap is to be used in barns, it is desirable that a hole hecut in the barn-floor and the tank set therein to permit the two runwaysto be placed on a level, as shown in Fig. 1. It is also desirable thatwhen the trap is to be used out of doors that a hole be dug in theground to receive the tank or cage. \Vhen, however, the trap is to beused in residences, the transverse runway is set on an incline, as at Bin Fig. 5, to elevate the animal to the top of the tank, the tank beingplaced on the floor on a level with the main runway. It is desirablethat the ends of the main runway be enlarged, as shown at Fig. :2, andit is manifest that these enlargements may be secured rigidly to themain runway or be integral portions thereof.

The trap is especially designed to catch rats and mice; but it isobvious that it may be used to catch all kinds of small animals. It maybe baited or not, as desired.

An advantage of employing a middle compartment and two end compartmentsand separating them by automatically-closing doors lies in the fact thatshould the tank or other receptacle become filled or be inconvenient ofattachment or injured beyond use the trap may still 'be available tocatch three or more animals, since the end compartments will remain openand set even though an animal remain in themiddle compartment. The trapmay also be available for catching three or more animals should the oneor more entrapped in the middle section be too wary to pass onto thetreadle 2'.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An animal-trap comprising, a maiii rum way normally open throughoutits length, normally open pivoted doors therein at its ends, a treadletherein at each end, the inner end of each treadle being normallyelevated, its outer end supporting the adjacent door and being adaptedto close said door when the inner end of the treadle is depressed, adouble treadle between the two outer treadles, inward and downwardswinging doors at each end of said double treadle, means for normallyelevating the inner portion of the double treadle, and means wherebywhensaid inner portion is depressed the outer ends of said doubletreadle are raised to close the adjacent doors, a transverse runwayconnected to the main runway adjacent the double treadle, a tiltingplatform in said transverse runway and a receptacle in communicationwith said transverse runway and adapted to receive the tilting platform.

2. In a trap, the combination of an openended tubular runway, a middlecompartment and two end compartments, an outwardly closing door at theouter end of each end compartment and at the ends of the'middlecompartment, means for automatically independ-v ently closing each outerdoor, means for simultaneously automatically closing the d'oors of themiddle compartment, a lateral runway con.- nected to the middlecompartment, anda receptacle connected to the end of this lateralrunway.

' 3. An animal-trap comprising, a tubular runway, normally open doorstherein, means to close said doors, and means to lock the door-closuremeansto prevent the doors being closed, and a receptacle connected tosaid tubular runway; v i 4. In a trap, the combination of an [openendedrunway, normally open doors therein, tilting treadles for automaticallyclosing said doors, devices for temporarily locking cle in communicationwith thebottom of the lateral runway at the outer end thereof connectedto said receptacle.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my,

signature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 19th day of September,1903.

' ADAM EDGAR HUGULEY. Witnesses: J. T. BRANSON,

ANDY C. STOKES.

